The Cost of Victory
by darkmickyangel
Summary: Lucifer's attack has arrived. The outer walls of the keep have fallen. As Paladin its up to Angel to keep the demons at bay from the Grigori, and the more precious things inside the keep. No matter the cost. (T for paranoia, cursing and violence. Adventure cause there isn't an action genre)


**A/N: I own no characters of this story: they belong to Kato.**

 **Warning: OOC!Lucifer. I know already, I wrote it. I know.**

 **Comments and thoughts always appreciated.**

"Sir, he's bypassed the inner gate!" Johnson, a stout man from Nigeria, reported, looking up from the radio transceiver, "Sir- Lucifer is among them!"

"Hold steady!" Angel commanded, taking center in front of the barricaded doors, the first knight Shura took a position to his right, as did the other exorcists of the Angelic Legion. Angel never liked the woman, she was loud, rude and improperly dressed at the best of times. But he was rather glad she was here for this fight. It would be bloody, and grueling. Shura had many sins, but poor fighting skills was not on that list.

The demons, specifically Lucifer and the illuminati had attacked the True Cross keep at night fall. The first and secondary defenses had fallen in the surprise attack, but they had managed to get the third of the seven defenses up in time.

They were the seven defense, the last line from keeping the demons from the Grigori, and the inner keep.

"fucking baldy," Shura said, Angel refused to turn to the nickname, keeping his eyes on the door, "we won't be able to stand our ground as we are, we should retreat and regroup."

"We can't let the demons get the keep," Angel said as steadily as he could. He recalled his initiation of becoming the Paladin, and all the tasks it entailed. He had made a vow on his _name_ to not let the secret of the keep pass his lips in any circumstance. He had sworn to God to protect it.

No matter the cost.

 _Oh, Angel~_ The spirit purred from within his demonic blade, the voice only heard by his ears. _You could give me more than a couple of hairs and that would be a bargain for the cost._

 _I made a vow to also never fall to you,_ Angel thought, stroking the blade before gripping it, "Caliburn, give me strength."

 _"_ Squee~ of coarse Angel _"_ the demon's voice echoed girlishly and painfully from the blade. The demon inside did it to embarrass him mostly, and as a ploy to make him loosen his own defenses. Angel never fell for it. One could never trust a demon, especially when it lived inside your head.

Angel drew the blade, and sliced off two of his hairs, opening the floodgate between the demon forged in the sword and himself just an inch. Power flowed through him, a great amount of power. Angel sucked in a breath. The battle ahead would be a tough one. He may hate demons and everything they stood for: but admittedly they needed them. Humans had no natural defense against demons, they relied on… less sinful ones for protection.

Caliburn could offer its bearer absolute victory.

For the price of a soul.

But for just a few hairs it could even up the odds of any fight. It was a grey area, not quite black but not quite white. A stain he had to bear in order to protect this world.

Just like his father, the previous holder of the blade. He had vowed on the family name to never subject himself to the demon that had been passed down through the Arthur family for generations. He had been trained from a young age to hold the blade, temper his mind from the demon that would eventually nest there. Their own family demon that had been passed down to for generations.

The one they vowed to never let fall into the wrong hands. But Angel had made higher vows.

"No matter what the cost" Angel said with a finality, and he could sense Shura tensing up behind him.

A line of curses that involved several sins, and words that no woman should say streamed out of the red head's mouth, "There here for something in the keep, not the fat bastards aren't they? That's why you aren't calling a retreat."

Stupidity, to some extent, wasn't on the list of sins either. When things were serious.

"No matter what cost," Angel repeated.

Something slammed against the barricaded door, and the bars on the iron doors groaned, before splitting in half. Lucifer, the first demon king of Gehenna, toed the triply reinforced doors as if he were merely opening two wooden doors that hadn't been locked with several pounds of reinforced steel and enough enchantments to kill a goblin king by proximity.

He stood about average height, with blonde, nearly white hair. With a central cow-lick reminiscent of Amaimon more than Mephisto. Like Mephisto, though, he had the drooping eyes, and look about him as if he hadn't had sleep in the last few years. Funny how the kings tended to all resemble themselves in one way or another. Guess they were related. The demon had purple eyes, not like Shura's which varied from grey, to purple, to pink depending on the lighting. These were lilac. Accompanying him were soldiers, a whole platoon with back up behind him. With him also came the demon's element. Light, blinding and harsh, the demon was essentially a walking sun. Only this light was bleached, like a fluorescent tube, unnatural. It would have blinded anyone that had been unprepared.

Mephisto's manufactured sunglasses may have been horrible to behold, but they did their job.

The light burned away secrets and lies, so the myths went. Nothing could stand in Lucifer's presence, and not show its true form. He heard Shura take a shaky breath beside him, and turned to find her skin turning scaly, and her eyes slitting slightly, hinting at the demon she kept locked within herself. Several of the other exorcists were taking on demonic shapes as well, but no one reacted. You didn't get powerful enough to be here without some demonic influence.

Angel looked down and found Caliburn oozing black taint. The taint would its way up through his arms into his soul.

 _KYAAA~ The other can see me inside you Angel!_ Caliburn squealed inside his mind with a demonic glee, he could see the demon shifting around in his body. A disturbing site he had to look away from before he became sick, _How terrified they look to see their Angel so_ _ **tainted**_ _._

Angel said nothing, his lips pressed together. As soon as the doors open, half the firing squad on the upper levels opened fire. A full round of clips of anything particular. A mixture of Bazookas, rockets, and douses of holy water were immediately aimed at the door. Angel didn't wait for the dust to clear, he flicked the safety switch in his hand, and hit the pinning key. Bricks of C4 and some Claymores went off, the entire hallway the Illuminati and demon had to come through- the only way into this section of the keep- had been rigged. Several meters of hallways collapsed, crushing whatever was inside with stone and shrapnel.

The doorway was obliterated.

There was no moment of silence, or small pause that they describe in movies and cheesy books.

Screams from the illuminati humans filled the room, painful and desperate. Blood clogged the air. Dead and soon to be dead were scattered across the floor.

The dust cleared, and Lucifer was still standing arms drawn wide, with a select group of exorcists that he had shielded. He obviously had been expecting the firing squad upon entrance- but not the bombs. Typical of a being that hadn't been deeply involved in warfare this side of the century. The shield had only been a frontal bubble, and several of the people he had selected as his guard were injured.

He looked left and right at the dead humans, sneered and then looked over at Angel. A smile, all teeth promises of a slow death printed into it. The initial flair of his light went down, and he stood there just as a human figure, his group surrounding him faithfully.

"Filthy scum, not even able to greet you're guests properly,"

"You are not a guest, you are not welcome here" Angel said darkly, and stepped forward into an attack. He made a direct stab towards the demon's chest, the demon sword giving him speed and strength to match the demon king.

See that was the beauty of Caliburn, the demon didn't give him power based on amounts of sacrificial offerings. It leveled the playing field, nothing more. No matter what opponent he would face, the sword would give him enough power for a 1 in 3 chance for a payment of hair. The rest depended on Angel's skill, and determination.

Caliburn didn't do deals in terms of power, it dealt in the way of victory. It had allowed the first Arthur to become the strongest paladin in history, Joan of Arc to lead her armies, and had generally been a blessing on his family line since the sword had been forged.

Lucifer had a blade of his own, a long great sword, nowhere near as wide as Caliburn, but just as bulky. They clashed as they met, Shura and the others keeping the demon's henchmen off his back. He met the demon's eyes through his shielded ones as they tested each other in a show of strength.

"Oh?" the blonde leaned forward, just barely coming up through their crossed blades, "did Little brother give you those glasses? How irritating."

Angel ignored him, and made a sweep for the demon's leg with his own. Lucifer stepped back easily to avoid the sweep, disengaging from the block. Angel easily twirled Caliburn around in his hands, attacking relentlessly. He had the disadvantage in stamina, he couldn't waist energy in banter and testing the other.

 _You could always ask for more power,_ the demon whispered into his ear, _Just some blood is all, its noting really. Shura does it all the time-_

 _Shut up, you're going to get me killed with your distractions!_ Angel hissed mentally back to the demon, deflecting a sweep from the demon's great sword. The demon was skilled, Angel would give him that. Skilled and deadly. He parried the sweep and Lucifer dodged, tried to go for his exposed side- but Angel wasn't some fresh fool. He knew how to use his blade.

It was a good thing the demon king wasn't going all out, but rather played with Angel. Taunting him and testing his skills, slowly putting on the pressure. Which was fine by Angel, killing the demon wasn't the plan. Angel wouldn't kid himself, he wasn't strong enough to kill a freaking Demon King- essentially a demi-god. But the order was strong enough to imprison one. Angel just had to keep the demon from realizing the trap.

As planned once Shura had taken down Lucifer's side-kicks, she came at him from behind, swinging her sword with a grin line of determination. She was stopped clean by one of Lucifer's hands, as the other continued to bear down on Angel with the sword in a power lock the demon had initiated. Angel similarly let go of Caliburn with one hand, and Grabbed Lucifer's hand. With the Demon off balance, he managed to twist the sword out of his hand, and kick it off and away from the battle. Shura took several more swipes, keeping the demon off him while he was exposed and Angel joined in beside her, but the demon lord dogged inwards to the room since the entrance was littered with the dead and dying. Perfect.

All the defenses purposefully funneled towards this singe room, which had only one entrance, the other leading to the inner sectors of the keep.

It was a kill box and nothing more.

Angel and Shura held back as the fire reigned down from all sides, exorcists loading and unloading clips in practiced precision. One volley reloading, the second firing. Angel and Shura, once they were out of the fire zone and under the overhand of the balconies on the upper floores, fired at him as well with a pair of pistols the other exorcists on the lower level handed them. Angel pulled one of his holy water grenade off his person, and tossed it into the center of the room for good measure.

For a whole ten minutes all that could be heard was gun fire.

Angel looked at Shura, and nodded. She nodded grimly, and reloaded the pistol, walking backwards, she flicked a switch on her radio, which activated a signal light on the balconies to hold fire and take cover. Angel and Shura ducked behind the columns holding up the balconies, as did all the other exorcists on the bottom floor. The ones on the six upper floors ducked behind the half walls.

Full of holes like Swiss cheese, and bleeding a sort of black ooze from them, Lucifer stood up from the floor and screamed. It was a primal scream, demonic in every way. all the bullets that had been thrown at the demon came recoiling outward in one wave, spattering the room. They embedded themselves into the walls and pillars. Pelting into the reinforced walls, pillars, and any sole unfortunate to not have taken cover.

"You think mere bullets can kill me?!" the demon laughed, as Angel and Shura leaned out from around the column, watching in morbid fascination as the body rebuilt itself. flesh oozing back into place or growing back like a fungus. "Now that I have an immortal body- one that cannot die- there is **nothing** that can stop me." He smiled, turning to Angel and Shura. Angel used his speed to get in close, and kept the demon occupied. Even without his sword, the demon was still formidable. His gauntleted hands were almost as deadly as the blade.

If it hadn't been for Shura and the snipers, he would have died two minutes in. Everytime they got an opening, they fired. Shura slicing in with a snake fang, or a sniper from above. Angel hacked away at the demon relentlessly, as the chanters up above filled the room with their faith.

They were getting to Lucifer, he could see that. The demon's hair was standing on end, and he would stagger every time he was hit or cut. His body may have been immortal, but it needed time to regenerate- and they were slowing it down just enough to put his 1/3 chance on level. He was holding up though, and Angel got the sneaking suspicion that he was holding back. Waiting for something. He could have killed him three or four times over, but he wasn't. He was bidding his time.

Angel wondered what it was, but forced himself not to worry. Thinking too much in a fight got one distracted, and in turn killed. Whatever would come would come, Angel just needed to keep him in the kill box. Give the other time to complete the arrays on the upper levels, the whole room was a kill box, and it would take them a while to close the doors.

Angel and Shura's job was to keep the target in the box.

"Is this all the paladin has to offer?" the demon said, using both gauntleted hands to catch Caliburn's edge. The metal on his hands had withheld all their torture, but his torso and arms had been sliced a few times. Lucifer didn't seem to mind them, as they healed soon enough anyways.

 _You need more strength._ Caliburn whispered into his ear. Angel felt sweat rolling down his neck, his muscles were reaching his limits. Even the demon sounded worried about the outcome of the battle, no figure seeing as it had worked for his family for how long? Some would think Caliburn didn't care who wielded it, so long as it could take a soul; but Angel knew that the demon favored his family. Something about trying to steal souls from them for generations and never succeeding. Demons were weird.

 _Damn it Angel, focus._ The blonde berated himself.

The demon leaned closer, meeting eyes again, his eyes were yellow slits now, like a snakes, "simple sword play and a kill box?" a bullet tore through the demon's chest, and he completely ignored it, "I would have thought the best of the order would have offered a greater challenge. But no, it topples like a house of cards with one simple push."

 _More than hair can give,_ Caliburn whispered urgently, _I need blood to open the gates further._

Angel swallowed, glaring at his own reflection in the blade.

"No matter the cost," he whispered, and Lucifer's brow furrowed. Angel shoved him out of the break, "Shura! Now!"

"My turn, bitch!" Shura grinned, and she stepped up into his place, moving much faster, but keeping a steady pace. He sword slashing back and forth without hesitation. With how they moved, there wouldn't be much of a chance for a gunner to get a hit in. Sparks flew up wherever her blade made contact with the demon's armor. That was okay though, because Shura was much faster than him, fast enough to keep up with a demon king on her own demonic strength. He scales still hadn't disappeared, and her eyes were slitted.

If this kept up, she would lose control- Angel needed to finish this.

Angel fell back, and caught his breath, looking down at his sword with a grimace. He had never given the sword more than hair, out of principle. The more he gave the demon, and the higher the stakes, the more the demon would have access to his own mind and soul, the more vulnerable he would be to it.

No matter the cost.

Angel brought his thumb up to his mouth, and bit down on it, tasting the metal of blood on his tongue, "Caliburn, give me more." He commanded, stroking the hilt.

 _As you wish, my liege._ The demon purred seductively.

Angel ran his bloodied thumb along the flat of the blade, and the sword soaked up the blood, humming. It took a lot of blood, more than Angel had anticipated. He felt his arm go numb- then the flood gates opened in a surge that made him take a knee and gasp. Power flowed into him, and made his burning limbs sooth, then burn again with new strength in them. His body felt the weight of age lift from his shoulders, and time seemed to slow as his own awareness picked up. It was intoxicating. Angel felt a mad grin cross his face at the power, but he locked it up. knowing he could easily be lost to that madness.

He stood up and swung Caliburn out to the side with one hand as a test, then pointed it at the fight in front of him. With a determined look, he ran back into the fray, sword leveled at his chest for a thrust.

Shura had to duck back as he aimed right through the space she had been to make his attack. Lucifer shielded his torso with his metal arms. Angel, with Caliburn's power, turned at the last second, throwning his whole body into a controlled spin. The thrust turned into a slash. He sliced off Lucifer's arm mid-forearm. Lucifer went down to one knee not in pain- but to avoid Angel's next slice. He rolled away to avoid the third.

"Holy _Shit_!" Shura's curse registered on some level, she said something else, but Angel was already on the move, aiming to cut open the bastard demon's head. Lucifer rolled out of the way though, and with a shower of blood, a new set of arms burst out of his torso. The sight was horrific, and the most unnatural thing he had seen a human shaped demon do. Angel was mid charge, and he hesitated at the grotesque sight.

The demon slid around him, grabbed his hair, and threw him into the doors leading to the inner sanctum.

Angel blacked out for a bit, but woke up not too much later, because of a jolt of pain. Angel lifted himself slightly, looking out on kill floor where Shura was holding her own against the demon. She was completely on defense, and doing nothing else. All her concentration was on the demon in front of her.

Said demon was holding Caliburn in his hands, the large blades weight nothing to him. His hands were glowing, and a black ooze was propagated about the pommel, and dripping out of the sword. The king wasn't playing anymore- Shura was doomed.

Angel watch the ooze drip, and felt a chill of fear run through his spine. Fear and pain and tears. Angel shuddered, rolling onto his stomach, trying to get up. The doctor was telling him something, but he couldn't hear him. Couldn't get up! Why couldn't he feel his legs?!

Angel felt his body wrack with pain- but not his. Caliburn and he were linked by each other's souls- that was what was required to wield the sword, a soul bond. Angel knew that to some extent that the demon could feel his own emotions, his own pain. He had never imagined it to be a two way street.

He could feel the burning hands almost holding him, feel the demon being shoved out of the sword by the king's mere presence.

 _Caliburn?_ Angel called mentally, feeling his insides twist with the pain the sword was feeling and his own- at this rate the demon inside the sword would die, and subsequently Angel would lose. All would be lost, Lucifer would make it into the- no he couldn't let that happen! Not on his damned watch!

 _Caliburn?! CALIBURN!_

 _Angel,_ The demon's voice came weakly. _He's forcing me out of the sword- I'm almost gone._

Angel cursed mentally, Caliburn wasn't a demon possessing the blade, its soul had been forged into creation along with the steal. It had no other form to transform into, like some demon blades.

But it could- it could possess him. he could become its vessile. But that was…

Angel shuddered, No matter the cost. His life- his soul. It was nothing in comparison to what could be lost.

 _Caliburn, to me._

Angel called, gritting his teeth against the pain, holding out his hand to the sword, _To me, before he kills to two of us. N-not possession, just housing. I will shelter you, and you will give me the strength to do so._

There was a long pause from the other end of the bond, then an answer.

 ** _Deal_** _._

The Holy Sword Caliburn erupted into shards, many of them hitting both Lucifer and Shura. Lucifer got the worst of it though, Shura only got a few scratches. Whether that was Caliburn's doing or the snake girl's damned luck, he wasn't sure.

Angel's eyes widened at the destruction of the heirloom, and the dark mass that swallowed him whole afterwards. The demon sunk through his skin, his muscles, and his tissues. Caliburn settled into Angel's very bones, his very core. Not in a possession sort of way- more like Symbiosis. Angel had been possessed once before in order to prepare him for bearing the sword. At that time he had been completely cut off from his body, the demon controlling it until he could get it back. But this wasn't like that at all.

Caliburn settled inside him, and became him. They breathed as one, their heart beat as one, it was as if his body had been made to be her vessel, a part of him that had been missing and he didn't even know it. Power flowed through his nerves, twitching at his finger tips and in every part of his body.

He shuddered, feeling something along his back pop back into place, and the feelings in his leg return. He expected his nails to turn color and extend, feel the canines in his jaw sharpen, his ears point. Or a tail to lash out of his back.

But they never came.

 _This isn't a possession, love. Its existence._ Caliburn's voice echoed from within himself, a satisfied pur, Angel felt a ghost sensation along his scalp, as if someone was running their fingers through his hair, he shuddered, feeling somewhat violated, _though we can try that later if you wish~_

 _How about_ _ **no**_ _,_ Angel growled, and stood up to his feet, looking past the exorcists staring at him wide-eyes to where Lucifer stood. Lucifer and him made eye contact, and suddenly he didn't see with just his eyes, but with Caliburn's as well.

He saw how victory could be achieved, and how much power it would take to achieve that victory. How he could whittle away at the man's reserves until he was forced to retreat; that body wasn't as immortal as he made it out to be. How a certain book in a library two dimensions away held the death verse of this demon, and if he was willing to give Mephisto the price, it could be his. How he could use Caliburn's power and the kill box to trap the demon in the keep for eternity.

There were three paths Angel could take, and no others.

Victory was in his sight now, and the only paths he could take, all other paths were inconceivable.

"Give me your sword," Angel said to the man beside him. The exorcist did so, then backed away from him fearfully.

"This ends today," Angel announced, stepping onto the field, swinging the sword artfully to get a feel for it. Much lighter than he was used to, but he would manage. Shura backed away slowly as he stepped into the kill box.

"yes, it does," Lucifer said, as the two of them began to circle, he noticed that the demon had fixed his arms at some point, the bare ones he was using were in the right socket, and the dead ones had disappeared. The demon pulled out a large shard of Caliburn from his chest, holding it like a knife.

"an end to an eternity of stupidity, of division, of _lies_ ," Lucifer announced, throwing out an arm to the inner keep doors, "you know what's behind that door, don't you? You know what power there is, but in your own ignorance do you even consider to that it could be _yours_?"

"It is not mine, as I have not right. It is no man's right," Angel said bitterly, raising his companion's sword, "and I will not permit you to go any further."

"you cannot stop me," Lucifer said, a grin on his face, holding up a hand and clenching it, "I will take the keep, and I will storm the gates to heaven!" he announced, and there was a collective gasp from around the room, as well as murmurs, Angel grimaced.

Well no secret could be kept forever.

"I will dethrone God, and cast him into hell! Just as he did to me, to my father and to my brothers. Then at last the world will have a worthy GOD." Lucifer cried out, looking around the room as if anyone would doubt him, the humans looked down at him in fear, "and you," Lucifer pointed across the way to Angel, "you are the key that will open the gates."

 _What_? Angel didn't show anything outwardly, but his mind ran in circles, _There's a key? Did I miss something?_ He tried to think back to his inauguration, of when he had learned the truth about the keep. Mephisto had told him in private that at the heart of the base lay the gates to heaven, and that as paladin it was his job to protect those gates, more so then the Grigori.

Mephisto had explained to him that there were three gates connecting heaven, Asshiah, and Gehenna. They only opened one way, like valves, and controlled the flow of the universe. The one between Asshiah and Gehenna had been blown open long ago, and the order's job was to essentially staunch the flow of demons coming into this world. On top of that though, was protection of Heaven's gates. As Paladin, it was his job to protect the gate, and make sure nothing ever got through.

No matter what the cost.

Mephisto's explanations had involved a lot of big words, scientific terminology, and childish diagrams drawn with crayons. Angel had zoned him out about halfway so he wouldn't get too annoyed at the demon and blow his top in front of the Grigori in an unprofessional matter.

There was a gate, don't let anyone through it. That was all Angel needed to know.

He had never heard the demon mentioned anything about a _key_ , or him _being_ a key.

 _He didn't mention anything like that,_ Caliburn confirmed, Whispering into his ear, angel resisted the urge to shudder, _I think maybe Lucifer has been given false information. We can use that to our advantage._

"And you think I'm going to just open the gates of heaven and let you walk through?" Angel bluffed, holding both hands to the side as if asking 'come on you think I'm that stupid?'

The other humans fell silent, falling for the bluff. He could see it in their faces, the realization of just what they were guarding sinking in. He hadn't told anyone on the order of the Grigori, but if preventing Lucifer from going directly through him to the gate meant lying his ass off, he'd do it. If Lucifer wanted to chase him around the world because he had false information, all the merrier to him.

He hopped Lucifer would fall for it as well. The trick was, he couldn't lie outright. Lucifer's light bled through lies, he could sense them. He wouldn't actually open the gate for the man, which was true. but it could be taken in either context.

The demon's eyes narrowed, looking down Angel's soul.

Angel stepped into the kill area, readying his sword, "exorcists, get the barriers up" he ordered, brandishing his sword, "you may have not known the stakes until now, but our goal has not changed." And the chanting began anew, the floor glowing beneath them, as the holding signil began to pick up power. A powerful seal, that would encase anything on the lower level in a pocket dimension once activated. Impossible to break out of- even for Mephisto. So the demon claimed.

"We will stop this demon, no matter the cost." Angel announced, and drew from Caliburn's power as he launched himself forward. Lucifer dodged him, running away into the pillars. The tide had turned now. With the literal essence of victory inside him, the demon king was wary. He killed an exorcist for his gun, and began firing at Angel from afar. Angel deflected the bullets with ease. The single handed sword was easy to slice and wield. But it was a stabbing weapon more than a slashing weapon. He skidded to the side, to where he had earlier kicked the demon's great sword, and scooped up the heavier weapon without slowing down.

Angel ran up onto the wall and jumped, as if gravity had no concept to him. he used a pillar as a base to launch himself across the room at the demon.

Angel sliced at the demon, and missed. The lower level essentially became a game of pin ball, with Angel and Lucifer sliding around at high speeds, trying to out maneuver the other. Shura had the wisdom to get everyone else upstairs, sealing off the stair way. Angel counted on her to finish the seal, to lock the demon up when the time was right.

Lucifer ran out of bullets eventually, and picked up the short blade Angel had dropped. The came at each other, swords sending sparks into the air as metal hit metal. Lucifer swung at his head, and nicked his cheek- and cut off a good chunk of his hair. Angel ducked and swung his leg around, kicking the demon's feet out from underneath him. Lucifer went down, and Angel up. He aimed to pin the demon to the floor with his heart-

Lucifer threw up his hand, and threw solid light up into his face. Not even the shades Mephisto had given him could stop such a light, and Angel reeled back, blind. The blindness wasn't permanent, Caliburn whispered into his ear, but it would take a while for it to go away.

"Damned Baldy! Don't fall for such simple tricks!" Shura screamed, from above, and Angel thought he heard something land on the floor beside him.

Angel looked up towards the noise, "Shura, you shouldn't have come down here," he hissed.

Something hissed at him in return, and shifted around him in a circle. Something much larger than him, and much scalier than a human. By the brush of air around him, he sensed the thing growing larger and larger.

 _It's a King Naga,_ Caliburn informed him, sounding really impressed, _the bitch just fucking dropped it out of nowhere, it's the width of one of the pillars, and growing. Its distracting Lucifer, but it won't win._

 _Snakes are her forte, I'm not to surprised._ Angel replied, blinking in the darkness, _How soon until this blindness goes away? I can't fight like this._

 _A month at least, regeneration isn't my thing. Sorry sweety,_ the demon sword said warily, _don't worry, though, I can help you see._ Angel felt the demon reach around, and place its hands on his eye sockets. Through the connection, he felt some kind of power, and Angel resisted at first, but took a deep breath and let the connection flow. The demon's sense came into view, not visible through an eye or even through a visibility at all.

Angel was just aware.

Aware of his location in the room, and the location of the holy-fuck-that's-a-lot-bigger-than-he-imagined _fucking_ snake that was coiled around him, around the entire room, in several layers. It was huge and it was attempting to squeeze Lucifer to death. After Angel got over the mass of the familiar, he became aware that Lucifer was there, and powerful, more powerful than the snake. Any second now he would rip the snake apart to be free. Aware that the demon was reaching the limit of his mortal body, that soon in order to fight he would have to draw out his demon heart.

Another rode opened up before Angel on the paths of victory. Death, for the immortal demon. Something the demon had never faced before today. Something that hadn't been an option earlier, willy as the future was.

Angel saw the opportunity and took it, he stood up from the ground, gripping the large sword in one hand.

He vaulted over the snakes' side, just as Lucifer tore it apart, and banished it back to Gehenna with a light that blinded half the other people in the room for a minute or two.

Angel swung down at the demon, and sliced him straight through the side. He turned around immediately, and sliced again. The cuts might have healed, but he could feel him chipping away at the demon's power. He did this several more times, keeping Lucifer off tilt.

"Open Fire!" Angel called, and dived away just in time for the rain of lead to come down. Lucifer fell down to one knee under the barrage. Six stories of people shooting down on you with blessed bullets could do that to a demon king.

Angel pulled a holy grenade from his waist band, his second to last one, and prepared to release it.

Lucifer was down, but not out. He had formed a lace work of light around him, keeping the bullets from hitting him. Instead it caught in the lace work, keeping the momentum to fly backwards when released, this time with more than enough momentum to cut through the barriers and achieve his victory over the mortal humans. Angel threw the grenade forward, timing the throw so the water would spray over the lattice. The water disrupted the magic, and Lucifer did his best to glare at him as he got pelted again. Lucifer let out a shriek, as he came to that limit. He either revealed his heart, or the mortal body he worked so hard to have would collapse and die. Both would grant Angel victory, and that was what Caliburn wanted, was for him to win. Defeat was intolerable.

Angel stepped out into the kill box, counting on not getting hit by cross fire. he held up a hand, signaling Shura to stop firing and take cover, the exorcists did, and they all hid as Light traveled up Lucifer's skin, and he exploded like a super nova. If Angel hadn't already been blinded, he would have been. The light flew out from him, and then was sucked back in, revealing the demon's heart.

A black hole, that sucked all the light into it, the visual world was being distorted to hell, and Angel could sense the humans being affected by this as the visual world warped.

But he wasn't relying on sight.

Angel pulled the pin from his last holy water grenade, and silently walked up behind the demon. The demon king didn't realize he was there until the last second.

When Angel plunged the weapon into the black hole, and the grenade released its contents.

Holy water does some interesting things to demons, coal tar will fly away just from its presence, it will expel the demonic soul from lower level bodies on sight. Wash the possession right out of anyone who drank it. To mid level demons and up, it burned. The more demonic, the harder the effect.

Angel had seen the blessed water kill many things, but not like the way it killed Lucifer.

The demon screamed, and his heart disappeared back into Gehenna on reflex. He clutched his chest and screamed even more, his voice carrying across Gehenna and Assiah, to shake the room. He fell to his knees screaming, then began coughing up miasma, curling up on the floor with pain. The holy water didn't stop once it made contact, it continued to eat away at the demon, slowly burning it from the heart outward. The figure in front of him was only whimpering in pain, miasma leaking out of its mouth and nose, but Angel was aware of more than what the others could see.

He saw a powerful being through Caliburn's awareness. One unimaginably strong, so strong it could only fit a small portion into the body of this world. It had once been good, but it had soured and festered. To the point where it had been expelled from heaven, festering hatred in the dark. Growing evil, and committing sins, becoming the first king in the world of darkness. The holy water ate away at the darkness, and left only what light hadn't rotten away. Entire edges of the being's self crumpled, and fell into the darkness, spawning new worlds from its old wake, armies of demons forming with each drop of miasma. The holy water spread, and off the good sloughed the evil. When the deed was done, millions of tinier evils littered the dark world, all eager to cause chaos and destruction.

Among that speck, was a single light, a new being completely. Not something that had been purged from the darkness, but something that had risen out of the rot. It was pure, and unfettered, but struggling in the darkness. It was tiny compared to what it had been, but still vaster than Angel or Caliburn.

Angel and Caliburn were aware of all this, and aware that Satan- the king of Gehenna and all that was evil, infinitely vaster than what Lucifer had been before Angel had killed him, the darkness of the dark world itself- reached out.

Then scoop up this tiny bead of light in his world, and pass it onto the light of Assiah, past Assiah, and into the waiting hands of an honest to god angel that stood at heaven's gate.

Caliburn burned at the presence of the angel, and heaven, and the demon inside Angel fell blind as well. The two of them, disoriented at what they had witnessed, fell to their hands and knees.

Angel's hands were covering in the miasma of the dead corpse of Lucifer, not two inches away from him. He could smell the death, and feel it on his hands, soaking into his pants. His skin pricked, hyper sensitive to Caliburn not used to feeling such things.

There was the sound of something landing on the floor- he could hear it and feel it as it got closer to him and Caliburn.

He felt the brush of a hand on his shoulder, and the smell of jasmine came through the smell of death. He realized that he recognized it, vaguely. He recalled someone putting it on in the locker room a few weeks ago.

"Shura?" he asked tentatively, trying to search with his eyes, but unable to.

"Fucking hell baldy," the red head said beside him, putting one of her arms beneath his own, "remind me to never get on your bad side." He could imagine her grin, calm and proud. Hiding the freak out that was probably going on in her mind.

"I don't think holy water would have the same effect on you," he said plainly, accepting the help in getting up to his feet. He looked around blindly as she took him away from the scene, "I can't see anything- h-how many people did we lose?"

"Three, in here, but I don't know how many we lost as that bastard made his way in here. I'll get the reports as soon as I can" she sounded bitter, Angel was too. The order couldn't afford to lose members, even in active duty. Their numbers were just so small and the numbers of the enemies- god. he'd just made _more_ of them.

"I-I saw what became of him, Through Caliburn," Angel shuddered, "god help us. More demons grew off his corpse, Shura. Then there was an Angel. An honest to god- but Satan just gave it back. He didn't even hesitate, and-and" Angel felt his hands start to shake uncontrollably, "I think I'm going into shock."

"Just try and stay calm, we're almost to there," Shura said warily, "you leaned really heavily on that demon- are you going to be okay? It's not going to take over your body is it? There's a bench here," she said guiding him down, "come on, sit."

 _I'm not,_ Caliburn answered tiredly before Angel could even begin to get on that train of thought. He felt ghost arms wrapping around his waist, not Shura's but Caliburn's. The demon's head rested on his shoulder, giving him a full body hug. As creepy as it was, Angel found it a tad comforting, _No possession, that was the condition, remember? I do that I get expelled from the body, that happens I die._

Angel repeated this blearily to Shura, looking to where he assumed Shura was- he hopped he wasn't looking at her breasts. Though he imagined he would get slapped if he was, so he figured he was good. He heard someone running up to them, and turned his head, though in vain.

"We're burning the body now" a deep voice said, and he felt Shrua shift beside him.

Angel jumped when someone else touched him without warning. There was the sound of Shrua slapping someone. Angel hoped the fact that he had jumped at the sound went unnoticed.

"Oi! He's fucking blind and in shock, don't crowd him!" she yelled, and for some reason Caliburn found that funny or maybe he did. Either way, one of them started laughing, and it bubbled over to the other. They laughed uncontrollably, unable to keep themselves from doing so. It was a high, Angel realized vaguely. The high of victory- they had just _won_ , and it felt _great_.

"Shut the fuck up! What is wrong with you?!" Shura yelled. He imagined she was embarrassed, and it only made him and the demon laugh more.

"I'm, hehe, I'm in shock and blind," Angel repeated, making a vague gesture towards his face. He felt the bench pressing into his side, when had he laid down?

Angel wasn't sure, and he wasn't sure about when he had blacked out. It might have been the doctor injecting him with something, or maybe Shura slapped him, or maybe he had just slipped off on his own.

 **A/N: I own none of these characters made by the wonderful Kato, nor do I own the blue exorcist series.**

 **Angel doesn't get nearly enough love, I want to do a bit more with him.**

 **Before you tell me: Lucifer is OOC off the wall, I know. I just didn't know who else to put in as the big-bad demon. I could have done Mephsito but... nah.**

 **Angel might be a little OOC as well, but i'm working on his character. So if you think he's off, let me know! please! I want to know! Also if there's anything about the fight sequence that seems really cool of off, please! let me know! i do these so i can better myself and my writing ;)**

 **comments always appreciated.**

 **Comments always appreciated.**


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